Fake News: This is NOT the Real Image of Tipu Sultan

The Karnataka government may have opened a Pandora's box by sticking to its decision to celebrate 10 November as Tipu Jayanti. But the controversy around the 18th century ruler of the Mysore kingdom doesn't stop there.

Historical (read inaccurate) facts available on social media (think WhatsApp forwards and Facebook posts) claim this to be a photograph of the real Tipu Sultan:

The post first surfaced in 2015 after which it was shared by many on different platforms. Some took a dig at the Congress party and claimed the “real” image of the ruler is available at a British museum. Others said that the history schoolbooks have been manipulated by the party.

This would’ve been true if Tipu Sultan could time travel into the future much after his death on 4 May 1799 to get clicked because the oldest photo ever taken dates back to 1826 or 1827.

The first ever photo was clicked by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce where he captured the view from a window at his French estate.

This fake image was also called out by Social Media Hoax Slayer in June 2017, but is still being circulated unabashedly.

(The Quint is now on WhatsApp. To receive handpicked stories on topics you care about, subscribe to our WhatsApp services. Just go to TheQuint.com/WhatsApp and hit the Subscribe button.)